Paterno’s memo is questioned

The Penn State coach’s memo was to the president after an off-campus fight.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — When Penn State football players were accused of being involved in an off-campus fight last spring, coach Joe Paterno wrote a memo to university president Graham Spanier saying some players would have their playing time reduced and roster positions changed, a newspaper reported.

Some of those players have seen significant action this season.

The May 7 memo said the punishment would be meted out regardless of what actions were taken by authorities or the university’s judicial affairs office over the April 1 fight, the Centre Daily Times reported in Monday’s editions.

Spanier told the newspaper he did not view Paterno’s memo as a binding statement.

“It was an advisory letter sent to me by the coach as a courtesy,” Spanier wrote in an e-mail Monday to The Associated Press.

University vice president Bill Mahon said the memo reflected a snapshot in time “without the benefit of everything that occurred afterward.”

“There was nothing binding about his note,” he told the AP.

The university in June expelled defensive backs Anthony Scirrotto and Lydell Sargeant, and defensive linemen Chris Baker and Jerome Hayes, for the second summer session for their roles in the altercation.

They were allowed to take part in practice, and they remain on university probation. Scirrotto and Sargeant have started every game, and Baker has started four. Hayes was a key reserve until suffering a season-ending knee injury last month.

Those players were identified by their lawyers. Six other players not identified by the university faced less serious sanctions.

The memo was written early in a long series of exchanges between Paterno and the administration about the incident, football team spokesman Guido D’Elia said.

“It all changed when new information was discovered,” D’Elia told the newspaper.

The memo also said players would perform community service and clean the stadium after each home game.

Team members volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics this summer. They cleaned the stadium after the season’s first five games, but Paterno has said he called off cleanup duty for the final two home games because he thought players had learned their lessons.

Scirrotto and Baker are awaiting trial in December on criminal charges in connection with the fight.t